


Nine hours

by utzzer



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Awkward situations, Bad Flirting, First Meeting, M/M, Minr appearances by Hunk and Pidge, Shiro/Allura mention, they meet on a plane ride, well if you can call it flirting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-05
Updated: 2017-06-05
Packaged: 2018-11-09 08:10:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11100483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/utzzer/pseuds/utzzer
Summary: Lance sees Keith at an airport and thinks he's hot. Lance takes a picture to show Pidge and Hunk what he looks like.The flash is on.





	Nine hours

**Author's Note:**

> Based on [this](http://otpprompts.tumblr.com/post/161217231228/person-a-sees-person-b-at-an-airport-and-thinks).

_1 st hour_

Sure, they tell you to show up early to your flight, so you can get through security and the plane can take off on time, but if there’s a delay, no one bothers to inform you that you could have had one more hour to get ready. Now Lance was at the airport, looking and feeling like he just crawled out of a dumpster, with one hour to spare that he could have spent fixing his hair or picking out a better outfit than sweatpants and the baggiest T-shirt he owned. But no, he’s here with 300 other people who are all annoyed at the one hour delay that had just been announced.

What do you do in a situation like this? You text your friends and complain how annoyed you are.

 

 **Lance:** I’m gonna die  
The plane has a one hour delay  
Tell me why I hurried so much again

 **Pidge:** that’s Karma for eating half of my fries yesterday!

 **Hunk:** Oh buddy, that sucks

 **Lance:** Fuck you Pidge  
Hunk is the only one who loves and understands me  
The worst thing is  
There is NOTHING to do at this airport

 **Pidge:** Walk around and look at stuff in the shops?

 **Lance:** I did that once and then the plane arrived earlier than expected and I missed it  
so not risking it this time!

 **Hunk:** Look around and judge the other people waiting for the plane

 **Lance:** Hmmmmmmm maybe

 

He looked up from his phone and let his gaze swoop over the people around him. There were a few families, and some people who looked like business men, but nothing to interesting. Except for the guy that was sitting just opposite from him. Holy shit, he was the most gorgeous guy Lance had ever seen. He was dressed in a black V-neck and black skinny jeans (maybe not the best choice for an eight hour flight, but at least he looked good in them). His clothes showed off his athletic build and he had shiny black hair, that was gathered in a small ponytail at the base of his neck. He was absentmindedly playing on his phone and rested his feet on his red carry on suitcase. He just looked so effortlessly cool and hot, that Lance had trouble tearing his eyes off him.

 

 **Lance:** Okay guys holy shit  
I just saw a guy, he must be a model or sth  
He’s so hot????! I literally can’t  
And I’m sitting here looking like a hobo  
He’s so gorgeous I think I’m gonna faint

 **Hunk:** Awwwwwww Lance has a crush

 **Pidge:** Are you sure youre gonna faint

 **Lance:** I’m serious Pidge

 **Pidge:** He can’t be THAT handsome

 **Lance:** Well HE IS

 **Pidge:** Take a picture, maybe then I’ll believe you

 

Lance would absolutely take a picture of that guy! One, to prove to his friends that the hottest guy on this planet was sitting right in front of him, and two, so he would always have something to remember him by. Not to brag, but Lance was the master at sneakily photographing people. Over the last few years, he had amassed a pretty big collection of pictures of people he passed that he found weird or – like in this case – hot. So, with no hesitation, he did his usual routine of acting like he was casually typing on his phone while he opened the camera app and aimed at the hot guy –

\- who looked up. The flash was on. As was the shutter sound. And now the hot guy and everyone in a radius of five meters was staring at Lance.

He felt the heat of a blush creeping up on his face instantly and desperately tried to hide it by avoiding all eye contact. He tried pulling up the collar of his shirt, but that made his embarrassment even more obvious. His eyes were fixed on his phone and he frantically tried to look anywhere but in the direction of hot guy. When was the last time something this embarrassing happened to him? And now hot guy probably thought he was a total weirdo and would try to stay as far away from Lance as possible…

Lance peeked up to check if the hot guy was still there. They made eye contact.

Hot guy was still sitting there, but instead of fiddling with his phone he was looking at Lance. One of his eyebrows was raised and the corners of his mouth twitched up in amusement. Despite it seeming impossible, Lance blushed even harder. The hot guy chuckled as Lance snatched the paper someone left behind on the seat next to him to hide behind it.

Even his chuckle was attractive, and Lance had just made a fool of himself and ruined his chances at any sort of smooth interaction with the guy. If he could have disappeared into thin air right this moment, he would have. But, getting up and hiding somewhere else in the airport would have drawn even more attention to him, something he really didn’t want right now.

He grabbed his phone with his right hand, while trying to hold up the paper with the other and opened his chat with Pidge and Hunk.

 

 **Lance:** I FUCKED UP SO BAD  
SOMEONE KILL MEEEEE

 **Hunk:** What happened?

 **Lance:** I took a picture but the flash and the camera sound were on  
Hot guy and everyone around us looked at me weird

 **Pidge:**  XD

 **Lance:**  Don't XD me Pidge  
this isn’t funny I’ve never been this embarrassed

 **Pidge:** No Lance it’s the funniest thing that happened to you all week XD

 **Lance:**  T_T  
Hunk, please show me some sympathy

 **Hunk:** Nah, Pidge is right this is too funny :D

 **Lance:**  T_T_T_T_T_T

 **Pidge:** Stop crying and show us the photo  
You did at least get that, right?

 

Shit, Lance didn’t even think to look at the picture. He opened his camera roll and checked the last picture he took.

To say it was a blurry mess would be an understatement. You could hardly make out shapes, the hot guy was nothing but a black blob next to a red blob that was his suitcase. He sent it to his friends anyways, to share his misery.

 

 **Lance:** [Picture sent]

 **Pidge:** Are you serious  
you didn’t even get a picture?!

 **Lance:** No! T_T

 **Pidge:** Take another one

 **Lance:** NO  
I’m just gonna embarrass myself more

 **Hunk:** Awww buddy

 **Lance:**  T_T_T_T_T_T

 

For the next thirty minutes, Lance continued to hide behind the paper, occasionally peeking up to check what the hot guy was doing. Almost every time he did, hot guy was glancing at him, always with the same ~~attractive~~ annoying smirk plastered on his face when Lance ducked to hide behind the paper again. So, when the plane finally arrived and they were called for boarding, Lance didn’t even bother to wait until his row was called. He jumped up and made his way to the gate to be one of the first people to board the plane, he had to get out of that awkward situation as fast as possible. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see hot guy putting away his phone and patiently waiting until his row was called for boarding.

In the plane, Lance put away his carry on and took his aisle seat. A middle-aged man was already sitting in the window seat and Lance acknowledged him with a nod. He plopped down in his seat and closed his eyes. Finally, some peace and quiet and no hot guy to be embarrassed in front of. Maybe he would even have some more room, since the middle seat was still empty. Maybe no one would sit there and he would have some more space.

Except someone _was_ sitting there. Lance noticed a shy poke to his shoulder and his eyes flew open. He looked up at… the hot guy. _Fuck._

* * *

  _2 nd hour_

This was going to be the most awkward eight hours of Lance’s entire existence. It was bad enough that he embarrassed himself in front of the hot guy by taking a picture with the flash on, no he was stuck right next to him in a tiny enclosed space. Alone, with no one to talk to. Hell, he couldn’t even text his friends and complain about the ordeal he found himself in.

At least after a while Lance got his blush under control. Still, it was suddenly much more interesting to study the interior of the cabin than to pay any attention to hot guy. He even was extra attentive during the safety instructions, while most of the other passengers, including hot guy were not paying attention at all. How irresponsible. At least, if the plane did crash, Lance would know what to do, so that was something.

With nothing to do, Lance absentmindedly played some games on his phone, remaining in the awkward silence that always came with riding a plane with strangers. Well, maybe it was a bit more awkward in Lance’s case. He opened his camera roll out of habit and scrolled through a few of his old selfies, when hot guy snorted.

“What?!” Lance turned to face hot guy when he noticed being watched.

“Nothing.” Came the response, accompanied by a knowing smile. “Just curious.”

“About what?”

“About why you did it. Why you took a picture of me.”

Lance hummed, annoyed and turned back to face his phone. No way he would tell the guy he thought he was hot. That would make the situation even more awkward!

“Okay, it seems you don’t want to talk about it. I’ll just guess you think I’m interesting then.”

What was that guys deal?! Oh man, he was probably one of _those guys_. Those guys who knew they were hot and walked around thinking they were the coolest, all cocky and arrogant. No way Lance was going to let this guy have this.

“It was your mullet.” He retorted.

“Yeah you heard me. I was wondering who in their right mind would still have a mullet in the year 2017. It’s not like a mullet was _ever_ fashionable.”

“Hmm.” The response came, and the hot guy tugged at his small ponytail with a frown, maybe a bit self-conscious.

They were interrupted by window seat guy pushing past them on his way to the toilet. After that, the hot guy turned back to the plane magazine he was skimming through before.

* * *

_3 rd hour_

They spend their time after their awkward conversation by listening to music (Lance), reading a book (hot guy) and fighting over their shared armrest. Then, the stewardesses started distributing the airplane meals.

They had a choice between a sweet potato casserole that looked like an accident and a half decent looking salmon. Lance went with the latter, but he suspected it would probably both taste the same. Hot guy apparently chose the sweet potato concoction.

The salmon, as Lance suspected, was nearly inedible. He only managed to eat half of it before he gave up and started to munch on the tiny chocolate muffin they were given as a dessert. Hot guy also didn’t finish his casserole, but his muffin was left untouched. Maybe he was saving it for later?

Lance leaned back and bumped elbows with hot guy on their armrest. He heard an exasperated sigh from the other man.

“Could you move over just a little?”

“Why should I?” Lance replied with narrowed eyes.

“I’m kind of stuck in between two people here? And you got that side all for yourself.” Hot guy gestured to the free armrest that was facing the aisle.

Ok, true. But Lance wasn’t going to give in that easily. He took a few seconds to think about what he could get out of this, when his face lit up with an idea.

“Okay. You can have the armrest for the rest of the flight. But I want your muffin.” He said and pointed at the abandoned muffin on hot guys folding table.

“Deal.” Hot guy said and handed over the muffin without a second thought. “I wasn’t going to eat it anyways.”

“Why?”

“Lactose intolerant.” The other said with a shrug.

Lance returned him a sympathetic hum (wow, it must suck not being able to eat chocolatey things), and accepted the muffin. He leaned back, careful not to use the armrest on his right.

* * *

  _4 th hour_

The in-flight entertainment programme wasn’t exactly Lance’s taste, he had already seen most of the good movies and series available. Besides, he preferred watching things on a TV screen rather than squinting at them at a tiny screen right in front of his face. Hot guy seemed to be very interested in it though, since he spent at least the last twenty minutes scrolling through the library. Lance glanced over, to see what hot guy was about to pick.

It was a page full of conspiracy theory documentaries.

Lance couldn’t help it, he snorted, very loudly, and then quickly turned away, pretending that he was laughing at something he had seen in his magazine. But _of course_ hot guy didn’t buy that. He paused scrolling through the library looked at Lance with a frown.

“What?”

“Uhhhh, nothing buddy, just keep scrolling.” Lance said, trying hard to hold back his laughter. “Keep scrolling through your conspiracy theory documentaries.”

Hot guys frown deepened. He crossed his arms.

“Those are the most interesting things available.”

“Uh huh. Then go ahead and pick one.”

“I’ve already seen most of these.”

“You have what!?” Lance was astonished. So hot guy was a conspiracy theorist who had already seen most of the thirty or so “documentaries” that were offered on this flight. Interesting. He giggled at the thought of hot guy sitting in a dark room, connecting points on his conspiracy theory corkboard. His giggling caused hot guy to look at Lance even more irritated. He decided that, as a peace offering, he would do the guy a favour.

“Here, I’m gonna pick something for you.”

He leaned over and started scrolling through the library. Hot guy still frowned, but let him. Lance found several movies and series he had already seen and liked, but his face absolutely lit up when he saw that they had several episodes of his favourite cartoon. He clicked on it and leaned back, so that hot guy could see what he picked.

“It’s a kids show.” Hot guy deadpanned and looked at Lance.

“I know. But it’s cool!”

“It’s about giant robots that form one bigger robot.”

“Oh come on, that is a cool concept!”

Hot guy still didn’t look convinced.

“Just try one episode! No one’s forcing you to keep watching if you don’t like it.”

With a sigh, hot guy put in his headphones, leaned back and started watching the first episode.

* * *

  _5 th hour_

Hot guy was already four episodes in, when window guy got up to go to the toilet again. Hot guy paused the episode while they both waited for window guy to come back. After they sat for a little while in silence, he finally turned to Lance with a shy smile.

“You were right. This is amazing.”

“See,” Lance answered with a smug smile, “I told you so.”

* * *

  _6 th hour_

The crammed seat combined with the loud plane were making it impossible for Lance to get to sleep. It didn’t help that he forgot his neck pillow and that window guy got up all the time to go pee. Lance tossed and turned, he even tried to stretch his legs out into the aisle, but that just made several people trip over him.

He sat back, crossed his arms and pouted. At this rate, he would arrive in London sleep deprived and in a bad mood. He looked over to hot guy, who looked very much awake and was still binge watching Voltron. Then he looked over to window guy… who just got up to go to the toilet again. Seriously?

Lance and hot guy both got up and shared a judging glance. When they both sat down again, hot guy turned to Lance.

“Why are you pouting so hard?”

“Can’t sleep.” Lance answered. Hot guy returned a sympathetic hum. “Why do _you_ still look so awake?”

“I know that I can’t sleep on a plane, so I took a nap before the flight.”

“Why didn’t _I_ think of that?”

They shared another minute of silence before window guy came back. After that, Lance tried to get comfortable again, hoping that window guy would finally get his bladder under control. He squirmed in his seat, eyes closed, when he suddenly noticed a hand placed on his arm.

He opened his eyes and hot guy was staring at him.

“Stop squirming.”

“But it’s so uncomfortable!” Lance protested.

Hot guy looked at him contemplatively.

“Would it help,” he said after a while, “if I let you lean on my shoulder?”

“Uhhhh…” Lance’s blush was back and he sincerely hoped that the plane was dark enough so that hot guy couldn’t see. He didn’t know how to take this offer, but then hot guy turned away from Lance. Wait, so he wasn’t serious?

Lance just looked at hot guy in a frozen stupor, when hot guy turned to face Lance yet again.

“Come on. You’ll be able to sleep and I won’t have to deal with your squirming.” He said and patted his shoulder as an invitation.

“O – Okay…” Lance eventually managed to stammer out, before he let his head rest comfortably on hot guy’s shoulder.

* * *

  _7 th hour_

Hot guy smelled great. Maybe his shoulder was a bit on the bony side, but just the right height to lean on. And hot guy didn’t even move, or if he did, he did it very carefully so Lance didn’t notice.

He actually managed to doze off for a while. Occasionally he woke up though, and then he glanced at hot guy. Even in his sleepy state he noticed some details about hot guy’s face. Like how the corners of his mouth quirked up the tiniest bit when he saw something funny happen on the screen. Or how despite claiming he took a nap, hot guy yawned and his eyes started to look a little tired.

 _Cute_ , Lance thought, and closed his eyes again.

* * *

_8 th hour_

Window guy got up to pee _again_. And after Lance woke up, he couldn’t get back to sleep. There was nothing for him to do. Sure, he could play on his phone, but then the battery would be dead before they would even arrive and he would have no way to contact anyone to pick him up. Hot guy stopped binge watching and was now reading a book. Lance decided to it was time to strike up a conversation.

“Sooooooo…” he started and waited until hot guy looked at him and put away his book with a sigh. “You really liked that cartoon I recommended to you.” He grinned.

“Yup.” Came the answer accompanied by a smile. “I’m probably gonna finish watching the entire thing when I have time.”

Lance’s grin grew even wider.

“Who’s your favourite Paladin?”

“Hmmm…” Hot guy squinted, really thinking about it. “I think Blue is my favourite.”

“What?!” Lance gasped. “But Red is so much cooler! He’s the fastest, and the most badass, and the prettiest!”

“You think so? But Blue is the better strategist!” Hot guy protested.

“Uh, yes, but Red is _still_ cooler. Should I list you the reasons why?”

They continued to argue like that, smiling the whole time.

* * *

  _9 th hour_

Lance might have spoiled a bit of the show for hot guy, which earned him a punch in the arm from the other and a stern look from a stewardess when he cried out over dramatically, so they both decided that it might be better to start talking about something else. Like why they were even on this plane.

“My sister is in England as an exchange student, and I’m going to visit her.” Lance explained. “What about you?”

“I’m going to my brother’s wedding. His fiancé is like a princess or something.”

“Oh wow, really?”

“Nah, but Shiro always calls her that.” Hot guy giggled. “They are like, disgustingly cute together.”

“So a perfect match then?”

“Pretty much.”

“Sooo… you’re going to the wedding alone? Or is whoever you’re taking already there?”

“Nope. Going alone.”

“Oh, well that’s a shame. I thought that surely that mullet of yours would have attracted _someone_.”

“I thought you hated it.” Hot guy grinned.

“Uh, while I’m still convinced that a mullet is completely unfashionable and a terrible choice for a haircut, I am able to admit that you might just be able to pull it off. It looks good on you.”

The blush that was creeping up hot guy’s face was priceless. He stuttered put a flustered ‘thank you’ and then turned away from Lance, presumably to hide his blush. Oh god, he was just _so cute_.

“Good thing you got a picture then.” Hot guy eventually said.

“Huh?”

“Well you took a picture. So now you have a reference on how to pull off a mullet if your hair ever grows out.”

“Uh, about that,” Lance stammered, “I kinda fucked up the picture and have nothing but a blur.”

“Seriously?!” Hot guy laughed out, and it was one of the nicest sounds Lance had ever heard.

“I panicked and must have moved the phone!”

They continued to bicker all the way through their landing. And through passport controls. Hot guy even waited for Lance to catch up with him, so they could go to the baggage claim together. It was surprisingly sweet of him.

Hot guy’s suitcase arrived almost immediately, and Lance suddenly realised that after this he might not see him again. He wasn’t ready to say goodbye, so for a second he just stared at hot guy very sad. With a sigh, Lance was pulled into a side hug, and hot guy took a selfie of the both of them. Still surprised and confused, Lance just stared at hot guy’s phone when he handed it to him, a new contact open.

“Just give me your number so I can send you the picture.”

“Oh… okay!” Lance snatched the phone, typed his number in and eventually settled on saving himself as ‘knight in shining armour’. He handed it back and hot guy rolled his eyes at the contact name, but smiled anyways.

“So, uh. I guess I’ll text you later then?”

“Yeah.” Lance replied, a smile still plastered on his face.

Hot guy gave him a rather awkward two fingered salute, then took his suitcase and left.

Lance waited ten more minutes for his suitcase to arrive, and when he finally hauled it off the baggage carousel, he remembered that his phone was still in airplane mode. He took it out of his back pocket and turned the signal back on, so he could call his sister. Immediately, he was greeted by fifty new messages from his chat with Hunk and Pidge, two messages from his sister and a single picture from an unknown number.

He opened the picture first, heart racing in his chest. There it was, the selfie hot guy took just minutes ago. Lance’s own eyes were wide in surprise and he looked as dishevelled as one would expect after an eight-hour flight. Hot guy also looked tired, yet incredibly put together and had the corner of his mouth turned up in the tiniest smile.

Lance couldn’t help but grin at the picture. It was perfect.

He sent a bunch of heart eyes emojis as a response and then opened his chat with Hunk and Pidge, ignoring all their previous messages and forwarding the picture.

 

 **Lance:** [Picture Sent]  
You wouldn’t believe what just happened to me guys

**Author's Note:**

> All I want is the ability to put emojis in this fic
> 
> I don't really know what I'm doing here. Also check out [my other fic](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10991193/chapters/24479622) if you like.


End file.
